DNS is hard. With over 500k domains hosted on WP Engine, we know the struggles of managing tons of domains. So we want to make it easy to understand the status of your domain’s DNS records and if they are properly configured to serve traffic from your WP Engine install.
What’s the state of your DNS? Check out your domain statuses by visiting the “Domains” page for one of your installs.
At the bottom of that page you’ll find a table which shows all of your added domains for that install. If you don’t see a domain, you can add a new domain at the top of the domains page.
Triggering a Domain Status Check
Our system queries every domain about twice a day to update the status of your domain. If needed, you can also manually trigger a check by hovering over the status icon:
Please note: Scheduling a refresh will queue the domain status check, which could take up to an hour to complete.
Domain Statuses and Meanings
In general it’s just like a stop light: green is good, yellow is sub-optimal, and red signals a problem. You can dig into the different statuses and learn about common fixes below.
Red ‘Error’ Statuses
Something isn’t right and we’re not serving your site’s traffic
No DNS Record. Ensure DNS is properly configured for your domain.
The domain might not be registered, or it might be recently registered during which time your registrar may not have your domain DNS set. We have a few recommendations for DNS registrars.
Not Served by WPE. This domain’s DNS is pointed at another host or has a domain redirect configured through your domain registrar. You can delete this domain from this page if your site is functioning properly.
If your site is functioning properly, you can likely delete domains with this status from the user portal, as they are being redirected to your primary domain directly through your registrar (likely called a 301 or 302 redirect). You also may need to update your existing DNS records to point to WP Engine.
Already in Use. This domain is being served by another WP Engine install. Ensure you own the domain and that it is not configured in another one of your installs. Contact support.
No response. This domain did not respond to an HTTP request. It may not be a valid registered domain.
Orange ‘Action Needed’ Statuses
Your DNS settings are sub-optimal, and you need to take action to improve your site performance
Old DNS. Your install has recently migrated servers and has changed IPs. Update your domain’s DNS to use the new DNS information at the top of this page.
It is HIGHLY recommend that you update your existing DNS records. Having your site proxy through an old server will negatively affect your site performance. Also your site can go down if your old server is decommissioned while your DNS is still pointed at it. We recommend you update your DNS as soon as possible, and use a CNAME record in the future to prevent you from having to update your existing DNS records when your site moves servers which we may do to help mitigate a DDoS attack, or to offer you new features on your account.
Blue ‘Unknown’ Statuses
Failed Check. We had trouble checking this domain, but we’ll check it again soon. Ensure that your DNS records are properly configured. If you recently added this domain, it can take up to 12 hours for a domain status to register with our system.
We’re looking to make this immediate in a future releases.
Green ‘Looks Good’ Statuses
Everything looks alright, there might be small improvements, but nothing affecting your site performance.
Proxied. Traffic is being served from this install, but your domain may be configured behind a proxy like Fastly or Cloudflare.
As long as your site functions as intended, no action is required. However if you are having trouble with your site you should mention to your support tech that your site is proxied, to help them diagnose the problem. Services like Flastly and Cloudflare can provide features that help your site stay online during a DDoS attack.
CNAME Recommended. Your domain is not using the recommended CNAME. If your site is moved to another server, you’ll need to update your DNS.
CNAME records look like yourinstall.wpengine.com on our platform. When you use a CNAME to point to your WP Engine install URL, you will never have to update your DNS on our platform again. Some domain registrars do not allow CNAME records. While this is not ideal, you can use A Records and if we ever move your site to another server you’ll have to update your A Record with your new server IP address. We have some recommendations for DNS registrars which support CNAME records.
If you’ve got a green checkmark and do not see any status, that means your domain DNS is setup with the ideal values. Great job!